Russia's new frigate to become one of world's best ships

02.11.2010

First frigate of the new type was launched at the Northern Shipyard in St. Petersburg. The flagship of project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov has been built over a record short period of time - five years. By 2020, it is planned to launch five frigates of the project, whereas the need of the navy makes up 20-30 vessels.

The frigate of the project will make the basic class of oceanic zone surface vessels of the Russian Navy in the 21st century. The vessel is capable of executing tasks in both group navigation and single-handedly. The frigate can travel 4,000 nautical miles far from its base.

The Northern Shipyard also builds the first serial frigate of project 22350 "Admiral Kasatonov. The work on the vessels commenced in 2009; it is to be launched in 2011.

The level of equipment of the vessels will make them one of the best ships in the world. They will be outfitted with eight anti-ship cruise missiles 3M55 Onyx, A-192 130-mm artillery system, Medvedka-2 antisubmarine rocket weapon system, anti-aircraft missile complex Uragan, anti-ship and anti-torpedo arms, mine planting systems and anti-ship or rescue helicopters.

The frigate can be used in backup group for Mistral type assault landing ships, which Russia currently plans to purchase from France (most likely, one ship for each of all Russian navies). According to Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Russia will purchase two universal assault landing ships with technological documentation for the production of other vessels of this class on domestic shipyards.

The imports of foreign arms in the Russian Federation may reach the level of tens of billions of dollars a year. It goes about ships, drones, armored vehicles and ammo. Russia currently buys electronic equipment for many types of domestic arms from abroad.

It is not ruled out that Russia will reach the zero balance in the field of arms trade during the upcoming years: the amounts of what the country purchases and sells will be comparable.

This year, the exports of Russian arms will exceed the level of $10 billion, officials of Rosoboronexport said. Arms exports normally gain $500-600 million a year, but the deplorable situation in the national defense complex and China's increasing activity on the arms market will show a negative influence on the trend sooner or later.